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SPEECH 



HON. W, W. WOOD WORTH, OF N. YORK, 



THE WILMOT PROVISO. 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1847. 



WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
1847. 



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THE WILMOT PROVISO. 



Mr. WOODWORTH, of New York, addressed 
the House as follows, in explanation of his vote 
on the Wilmot Proviso: 

Mr. Speaker: I feel indebted to my distinguish- 
ed friend from Massachusetts [Mr. Ashmun] for 
the opportunity he allows me of saying a few 
words iri explanation of the vote I have just given 
on the Wilmot proviso. From that gentleman's 
known courtesy, I could have expected no less; 
and the friendly relations that have subsisted be- 
tween us — relations in no degree hazarded by the 
difference in our political opinions — receive new 
strength from his present kindness. 

Mr. Speaker, it is true that I voted for the Wil- 
mot proviso': it is known to many that I gave early 
notice of my determination to do so. I have had 
no disguise on the subject; have aficcted no mys- 
tery in relation to my conduct. The principle of 
the proviso has ever commanded the assent of my 
heart; its assertion, I have maintained during the 
last and present session, should depend on favor- 
able opportunity. 

I am content, for one, Mr. Speaker, to leave sla- 
very where the Constitution has left it. The Con- 
stitution — that glorious offspring of mutual com- 
promise — gives no pov/er to the slave States of 
adding to their number; nor does it authorize the 
free States to intertere with slavery, so as in any 
maimer to affect its character. In the States where 
it existed on the adoption of the Constitution, the 
institution of slavery is protected from external as- 
sault by the provisions, express or implied, of that 
instrument; but under it, it cannot extend itself to 
the acquisition of other territory; and all territory 
since acquired, with slavery existing therein, has 
been with the sufferance and by the consent of the 
free States. Slavery has been conceded by the 
North in more than one instance to the territorial 
extension of the South, in consideration of com- 
mercial or olllier advantages acquired thereby. So 
it was in the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, 
and so in the annexation of Texas. 

I am not disposed now, Mr. Speaker, to go over 
tiie well-trodden ground of the origin of this war. 
Whether it necessarily resulted from the annexa- 
tion of Texas, or whether it was provoked, and 
rendered inevitiiblc by the march of our army upon 
'.lie Rio Grande, or whether, as I hold, it wr.s forced 



upon us by the Mexicans themselves, I do not in- 
tend at present to consider. It is sufficient for me 
to know, that by an act — a solemn and deliberate 
act — of our own Government, war with Mexico 
has been declared to exist. And although I am 
willing to give all credit that is due the gentlemen 
who liave supported with so much ability either 
or all of these hypotheses, I had rather praise their 
ingenuity than imitate their example. 

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a war, and 
we must bear and conduct it with all our patriot- 
ism and all our energies. War, at the best, is an 
evil — an almost intolerable evil — and should never 
commence but when peace is no longer to be main- 
tained witli honor; should always terminate when 
peace can be obtained and honor satisfied. But I 
am not one of those, Mr. Speaker, who affect a 
mawkish horror of war, or denounce it in all cases 
and under all circumstances, as the most iniquit- 
ous of iniquities. On the contrary, I hold that it 
is often the preventive of far greater evils; wards 
off, rather than induces, national calamity; develops 
the energies of the mind, ever more active under 
excitement; and, above all, brings out and culti- 
vates that ardent patriotism whose full develop- 
ment alone can perpetuate the union of these 
States. 

But, Mr. Speaker, the genius of this country lies 
in peace. The only two wars in which our Re- 
public hitherto had been engaged, were wars of 
inevitable necessity: by the first we asserted and 
secured the political independence of our country; 
by the other, we assumed and defended a prin- 
ciple, destined to wide and universal imitation — 
the safety of the citizca under the flag of his country 
on all neutral ground. For these we fought, and 
in these we triumphed. 

By no fault of our own, war has been precipi- 
tated upon us. And it becomes us to endure this 
new and unenviable relation with all our philoso- 
phy, all the time seeking an opportunity to termi- 
nate it peaceably. 

The earliest feasible mode of putting an end to 
the unt'ortunate hostilities now subsisting between 
us and Mexico, I have thought, ever since he 
urged it, was tliis proposition of the President. I 
am confident he is much better advised than we 
aie of the influence lliat pervades Mexican coun- 



cils. His superior information he cannot impart to 
us, without at the same time endangering, if not 
utterly destroying, tlie hopes of peace of which it 
is the cause. 1 have tiiat abiding confidence in iiis 
sagacity, and in tiie witdom of the council by 
whom he surrounds himself, to give him this evi- 
dence of our trust, and grant him, without restric- 
tion, the three million loan. 

Were v/e at war with an established govern- 
ment, I\Ir. Speaker — a government in whose en- 
gagements we could repose any confidence, or of 
whose duration we entertained any hope — the usual 
forms of diplomacy might alone be neces.sary for 
intercommunication. But there is in Mexico, 
properly speaking, no establislied authority; all 
power there is uncertain and indefinite; the nomi- 
nal President of to-day may be supplanted to-mor- 
row, and be obliged to give v.-ay in equal rapidity 
to as nominal a successor. I?ach one in turn as- 
sumes and relinquishes supreme authority; and the 
very facility of change, in natural consequence, 
begets a desire therefor. 

But there is one power in Mexico, Mr. Speaker, 
which, unrecognised in the constitution of the 
State, and in direct opposition to its laws, controls 
its aflairs. With that power we could treat. It 
is the ARMED POWER of Mexico. It is its 
Congress of bayonets, its representatives at San 
Luis. 

I would send to them, Mr. Speaker, the sword 
and the purse, both in much force. It was the old 
Roman method of negotiating a peace, and has lost 
none of its efficacy by its transmission through 
centuries. " Choose ye the one or the other," let 
our minister, civil or military, be instructed to say, 
and let him be provided with the ability to compel 
and bind them to their option. 

Nor am I alone or unsupjDortod in th.e position 
1 have assumed. Many of my political friends, I 
am happy to think — of my mo«i sagacious and 
influential political friends, hold with me this opin- 
ion. I am glad to find that it commands a ma- 
jority in Congress. We lose nothing by the ex- 
periment — we may gain much by it. 

And, Mr. Speaker, this opinion is not confined 
to the political party to whicii I have the honor to 
belong. It is cultivated to a certain extent among 
my political opponents — men who have too much 
regard for the interests of llieir country, of which 
peace is the great promoter, to encotn-agc tiie nar- 
row spirit of partisanship. But lately I saw one or 
two earnest articles, recommending the very course 1 
havq adopted, in the Js'ew York Tribune — a press con- 
ducted with more ability, and excrcisiiig more ivjhience 
than any other nf the parly in our Utate. It was there 
recommended to the Whigs, in case the proviso 
should be lost, still to advocate the adoption of the 
bill. It was a chance for peace — it was a plank 
to drowning men. 

Mr. Speaker, when the bill with the proviso 
attached to it, whicli iiad passed this House, had 
been reje«ted in the Senate, I was but strengthened ! 
in the determination I had fixedly arrived at, that I 
on the solution of such contingency, that is, on the ' 
rejection of such proviso by the Senate, I would ' 



vote against the proviso on the return of the bill 
to the House, anJ save the loan. And herein, Mr. 
Speaker, I am subject to no charge of tergiversa- 
tion; and though I am aware there will be a burst 
of clamor against me for my course in the premi- 
ses, I am prepared to meet my constituency, and 
appeal from the temporary excitement of disap- 
pomtcd faction or interested party, to the sober, 
sound, and enduring sense of patriotism, which 
distinguishes my State. 

The impossibility of passing the bill through the 
Senate, vv'ith the proviso attached, suspected be- 
fore, was made certain by the decisive vote of that 
body on Monday last. It was then ascertain, that 
if wu still clogged this measure — a measure, as 1 
trust, the harbinger of peace — with a provision, so 
ungrateful to that honorable body, its fate was 
doomed. Without the means of negotiation, the 
President v/ould be compelled to carry on a tedious 
war with Mexico, through the long vacation that 
awaits us, even with her disposition to consider 
the preliminaries of peice. 

Mr. Speaker, when I saw on one side a some- 
what obstinate demand for congressional endorse- 
ment of a principle so deeply rooted among the 
free States as to require no such expression — a de- 
mand made by many of my political friends not in 
good faith, not from sincere attachment to its char- 
acter, but from an ill-concealed desire to entrap 
associates even by the defeat of wholesome legis- 
lation, and, on the other, an inin\ii>ent necessity 
for the passage of the bill without limitation, there- 
by sacrificing no principle, and endangering none, 
with the conviction that thus alone the bill could 
pass, and this chance of peace be preserved, — how 
was it possible I could hesitate ! Upon such con- 
viction, was there an alternative to be chosen? I 
performed my duty, Mr. Speaker, and in the same 
category would pur.?ue the same conduct. 

Mr. S])caker, on the subject of slavery, my opin- 
ions are known to my district. They arc now as 
they ever were; they have been asserted, when- 
ever occasion demanded their utterance. I hold 
slavery a great moral, social, and political evil; 
one that it becomes us, as sentient, reasoning be- 
ings, as philoso]ihers and as Christians, to alleviate 
and abolisii, lohcncver we can. But, under the 
Constitution, I acknowledge no power for any 
national interference with the institution. Con- 
gress could not, if it were desirous, abolish slavery 
in the States v/liere it exists. An attempt of such 
kind would but serve to promote ridicule; it could 
not be seriously entertained. The institution of 
slavery is hedged in by the Constitution from ex- 
ternal aggression; as much so as State govern- 
ments, or other public corporations. They all 
depend upon the same instrument, and are equally 
protected. 

But where the Constitution leaves slavery, there 
I would leave it. By no assent of mine shall it 
be invested with new powers, oi* gain greater in- 
fluence, political or territorial; botii, or either. As 
a creature of the Constitution do I hold it; and if 
ever an attempt be made to' control the power that 
recognised its organization, or protects its exist- 



ence, it sh;dl receive from me nothing but decided 
and enduring opposition. 

1 regret very mucii, Mr. Speaker, tliat the dis- 
cussion of liiis sulijixt has elicited so much a2;ita- 
tion. I would that we might reason as calmly and 
as sensibly on this as on any other question of 
morality or politics. Even truth, if it assume the 
form of denunciation or menace, loses respect, and 
provokes opposition; and who shall undertake to 
limit the boundaries of truth, or give it a parti- 
colored character? 

Never, Mr. Speaker, since the world was first 
summoned from chaos to the present moment, has 
a principle perished: ourselves, mere adjuncts of 
the moment, fade and disappear with tlie time to 
which we arc attached. Men, and the monuments 
of men, rush to extinction; but a principle, once 
brought into light, becomes immortal. lis triumph 
may be retarded, and, through whole series of 
ages, it may be struggling against doubt, and error, 
and wilful malice; but its destiny requires ultimate 
and full establishment. 

I therefore have no fears, Mr. Speaker, of the 
future. The principle of liberty will work its own 
accomplishment. Slavery — a mere institution of 
human hands — v.'ill encounter the fete of its archi- 
tect. In the course of time, chance or design, 
the necessities of man, or the silent workings of 
nature, will operate to the downftdl of this tempo- 
rary fabric. The institution of slavery has already, 
in my opinion, culminated, and now descends to 
its necessary extinction. Good sense, therefore, 
dictates a quiescent policy in regard to it. 

But, while I would leave it where the Constitu- 
tion found it, I repeat, I would prevent its trans- 
gression beyond those limits. Rather than pur- 
sue a course that would seem a concession to its 
further extension, I would now insist upon the 
adoption of this Wilmot proviso, even at the peril 
ofthis'bill. Perish the bill — perish all our san- 
guine hopes of peace — rather than one jot or one 
tittle of a principle should be endangered ! 

But, Mr. Speaker, I am no alarmist; I wish to 
excite no precocious agitation in the country: and 
I therefore would seek no factitious opportunity 
for the unseasonable display of my sentiments 
hereupon. When the time comes, if ever it does 
come, that the slaveholding interest shall seek, 
with the cognizance of this Government, to extend 
its territorial power, I shall be found m determined 
opposition. For the embarrassment of an impor- 
tant measure, I am now unwilling to insist upon 
an amendment or an addition whicfe lias no neces- 
sary connexion with its character. Hereafter, 
there will be time enough, occasion enough, de- 
sire, ability, and patriotism enough, to discuss 
this agitating question in all its bearings and all 
its dependencies. When that time comes, if I am 
in public life, there will be found no hesitation, no 
vacillation, in my course. 

The reports in the public press, and the asser- 
tions in this House, that the President may appro- 
priate this money to the purchase of California or 
other Mexican territory, and by such means indi- 
rectly extend the institution of slavery, are scarce- 



ly, I think, worthy of sober consideration. No 
foreign territory can ever be acquired by this 
country without the consent of Congress: no treaty 
for such purpose can be ratified without two-thirds 
of the Senate. How is that consent or that ratifi- 
cation to be obtained, without the concurrence of 
the free States.' It was northern and not southern 
votes that annexed Texas: it may be southern 
and not northern votes that v/ill prevent the acqui- 
sition of more territory. 

The occasion, I thought, had come; and, think- 
ing so, I did not hesitate. I had given notice, that 
if the proviso were rejected in the Senate, and this 
bill should come back to us without such condition, 
I should vote for it as amended by the Senate. 

x\mong tiie many considerations that weighed 
upon my mind and influenced my vote, there wa.s 
one which stood preeminently above the rest. It 
was a belief — a sincere and, I think, well-founded 
belief — that had not this same bill, or one like 
in nature, been lost the last session of Congress, 
we should now have been at peace with Mexico, 
and have saved the lives of thousands of men and 
the expenditure of millions of money. Reasoning 
upon the same premises, I have confidence now 
that the grant and disposition of this loan will 
much hasten the consummation of peace. There 
may be a doubt, however — a reasonable doubt — 
of the efficacy of the measure; but the doubt is in 
f\ivor of peace: for on the other side there is noth- 
ing but naked and drear certainty — a certainty of 
war, and of protracted war. 

I have ever defended the necessity of this war; 
I have ever maintained that Mexico, and not our- 
selves, was to be blamed for its commencement; 
and I am of such opinion still. But we have been 
victorious, and can aflord to be magnanimous; we 
have done enough for glory, and can yield some- 
thing for peace. I acknowledge my desire for 
peace; the interests of the country require peace, 
and humanity demands it. It is, therefore, with 
the hope of consummating peace, that I vote for 
tliis peaceful measure. I voted for the Wilmot 
proviso, for the assertion of a principle: the prin- 
ciple was established by that vote, so ftir at least 
as my opinion or conduct is concerned. In voting 
against its second annexation to this bill, I have 
changed no priiiciple, but have embraced expe- 
diency. I have merely voted to concur in the 
amendment of the Senate, which requires the bill, 
the whole bill, and nothing but the bill. The bill 
is the principle, the proviso the incident. I am 
unwilling to sacrifice a measure, a salutary neces- 
sary measure, for an opinion, however ai)stractly 
sound. 

My motives in so doing will be misrepresented 
and my conduct denounced. My vote will be 
ascribed to corrupt considerations. Those who, 
in my place, would not have hesitated to ask pay- 
ment in advance for their vote, will be the first, 
and most eager to calumniate me. The vices to 
which we are most inclined, we arc most apt to 
accuse others of. It is the lasv of our depraved 
nature. And I cannot expect to escape the usual 
penalty that a conscientious discharge of duty ia 



obliged to pay to malignancy and venality. 1 will 
abide the issue. 

I neither seek, nor want, office. I am no suppli- 
cant for Executive favor.s. Neither the smile nor 
the frov/n of power can influence my conduct. I 



to my oath, false to those v/ho have trusted mc, 
and to my country, if from ftar of temporary 
clamor, or of exaggerated zeal, of malignant or mis- 
taken denunciation, I had suffered myself to be 
diverted from the course that calm deliberation had 



.seek to discharge my duty to my constituents and convinced me was right. 1 have done my duty, 
to my country. I may be mistaken in the means; and throw myself willingly upon my country for 
I am ri^ht in the motive. I should have been false its verdict. 



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